He put his own name or initials to some of his productions, and treated the authorship of others as open secrets.

Enough is ascertained as his to provide us with the means for a complete understanding of his opinions and his conduct.

It is Defoe's misfortune that his biographers on the large scale have occupied themselves too much with subordinate details, and have been misled from a true appreciation of his main lines of thought and action by religious, political, and hero-worshipping bias.

For the following sketch, taking Mr.Lee's elaborate work as my chronological guide, I have read such of Defoe's undoubted writings as are accessible in the Library of the British Museum--there is no complete collection, I believe, in existence--and endeavoured to connect them and him with the history of the time.
W.M.
CONTENTS.
PAGE CHAPTER I.
DEFOE'S YOUTH AND EARLY PURSUITS 1 CHAPTER II.
KING WILLIAM'S ADJUTANT 13 CHAPTER III.
A MARTYR TO DISSENT?
30 CHAPTER IV.
THE REVIEW OF THE AFFAIRS OF FRANCE 51 CHAPTER V.
THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE AND UNION 62 CHAPTER VI.
DR.

SACHEVERELL, AND THE CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT 73 CHAPTER VII.
DIFFICULTIES IN RE-CHANGING SIDES 103 CHAPTER VIII.
LATER JOURNALISTIC LABOURS 115 CHAPTER IX.
THE PLACE OF DEFOE'S FICTIONS IN HIS LIFE 130 CHAPTER X.
HIS MYSTERIOUS END 155.